Hydrangeas: Old Wood or New Wood Blooms

Hydrangeas are a very popular landscape plant because they have such beautiful flowers, and they’re generally pretty easy to take care of. But there’s also a ton of confusion about hydrangea care and how to keep them looking their best. 

While they’re all related, they do not all have the same growth and bloom patterns. Some hydrangeas change color based on pH; some hydrangeas bloom on fresh growth from this year called new wood, and some flower on the growth they put out last year called old wood. It all depends on the species of hydrangea, so it’s helpful to know what you have and keep the plant info card handy. 

When to Prune Hydrangea: You can prune hydrangeas that bloom on old wood right after they finish flowering. You can prune varieties that bloom on new wood in late winter or early spring.

How Can I Tell If My Hydrangea Blooms on Old or New Wood? there are a few clues that will help you determine if your hydrangea blooms on new or old wood.

• If you prune your hydrangea in the spring and it did not flower that summer, then it’s likely one that blooms on old wood, and spring pruning would have removed the buds
• If you prune your hydrangea hard in the spring, and it still blooms that year, then it blooms on new wood
• Feeling your wood on the hydrangeas can help you tell the difference between old and new wood
• Old wood should be stiffer,...

The basic principles of rose pruning are the same, regardless of the rose type, but the timing of pruning, amount to remove, and objectives are slightly different, depending on the type. Here’s how to prune roses.

Materials you may need: 

• Hand pruners
• Gloves

Why it’s important to prune roses: 4 basics to pruning roses

• Remove dead and diseased branches.
• Rejuvenate the plant and encourage blooming.
• Encourage airflow through the shrub.
• Control size and shape.

Basics of pruning roses:

• Whether you’re pruning roses to reduce the size, deadheading spent blooms, pruning to shape the shrub, or pruning for airflow, you’ll always cut the same way.

When to pruning roses:

• A good rule of thumb is to wait until the very early of spring to prune roses to reduce size, encourage spring growth, and rejuvenate the shrub. Prune to remove dead or diseased growth at any time, though it is best to avoid major pruning from late summer through early winter, as the shrubs will be starting to go dormant. Deadhead as the flowers fade to keep shrubs blooming longer.  

Pruning to remove dead and diseased growth:

• Pruning damaged or diseased growth is important so insects don’t take up residence in dead branches and multiply. 

Pruning to promote airflow:

• Prune to promote airflow at the same time you prune to reduce size

Pruning to rejuvenate growth:

• Some shrubs...

Tree pruning is recommended for all ornamental/shade trees that are cultivated for landscape purposes every 3-7 years, depending on the species. Of course if there is damage from a storm, disease, or other situation,  then we recommend pruning to remove the damaged/dead wood immediately so the tree can properly recover.

The reason why trees in a landscape setting should be pruned on a routine basis is to ensure the health of the tree. It is far easier to remove a problem when the branch affected is small then wait until the problem spreads to a larger part of the tree, or the branch continues to grow and the later removal results in a misshapen tree that is no longer nice to look at.

Proper pruning can help take care of the following issues with branches:

• Crossing
• Broken
• Diseases
• Crowding

The removal of these problems allows for the tree to continue growing in a manner that is sustainable…therefore living a longer and healthier life.

To say that a tree that is regularly cared for/pruned will have no problems is as unreasonable as saying a person who goes to a doctor for an annual exam will never become ill. However, similarly to seeing a doctor regularly, proper maintenance of your trees by a professional arborist can help to keep your trees healthy.

The primary reason why pruning is recommended for trees is to maintain and improve its health, or address a known issue.  Though it is not the primary reason when done...

Pruning and Shrub Shaping

The spring flowering shrubs and Yew shrubs are ready for a trim!  We began shaping and trimming last week and will continue working through all properties until complete….and then we’ll start all over again.  J  For the entire month of July, there is extra time added to all of our regular maintenance visits to accommodate the additional work.

The delayed spring weather, ample amounts of rain and periodic HOT days have caused nature to be slightly off kilter this year.  My general assessment right now is that the normal sequence/progression of spring (forsythia bloom!) and early summer (shrub roses in full bloom!) that spans the time from about April 15-June 1st was shifted and consolidated to May 9-June 20th.  In addition to the natural progression of spring was the great emergence of 2013—first tree leaves fully emerged on May 19th (about 3 weeks later than normal) and just 4 weeks later the shrubs are in need of trimming.  Normally, there is a 6 week or more time frame between first full leaf emergence and trimming/shaping.  Yikes!

Normally, we begin trimming shrubs the first week of June.  By the first week of June most spring flowering shrubs have nearly completed their flowering, not this year though, the delayed spring also delayed flowering on many shrubs.  Unfortunately—at the same time leaf/shoot growth was/is in full swing.  For example, while lilacs...